Khawaja eyes Ashes at ‘bare minimum’ but will ‘slide out’ if tap on the shoulder comes

Usman Khawaja has suggested that the final Test of next summer’s Ashes series at the SCG would be an ideal end date to his international career, but the 38-year-old is aware that a tap on the shoulder may come sooner.

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Khawaja is all but certain to open the batting in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle starting Wednesday given his excellent recent returns on the subcontinent, but his future was a big talking point during Australia’s 3-1 series victory against India in the home summer.

The left-hander mustered 184 runs at an average of 20.44 with one half-century, coming on Boxing Day, and after making 41 in Australia’s successful run chase at the SCG, he said he had simply been “Bumrah-ed” throughout the Border Gavaskar Trophy.

The champion Indian quick snared Khawaja six times for 33 runs in 112 deliveries faced as part of his 32-wicket haul that won him Player of the Series honours.

But Khawaja baring the brunt of Bumrah’s new ball brilliance did not stop the vultures from circling.

His former captain Michael Clarke called for him to retire after the SCG Test earlier this month, while the great Allan Border warned him about the perils of aging as he expressed concern about his movements slowing down.

Although, Khawaja believes he has it in him to get an SCG farewell like many of Australia’s finest have received in a little under twelve months’ time.

“There’s definitely those thoughts (bowing out in Sydney) in my head, I’m not afraid to talk about that. I’m human,” he said.

“I’d still like to play the Ashes at a bare minimum. I try not to think too far ahead, that’s as far ahead as I’ll think.

“As long as we’re winning, I’m still contributing, my body’s still feeling good, I’ll play. For me it always feels more like one summer at a time (rather than retiring after the Ashes).”

Before potentially sailing off into the sunset at the ground he called home before relocating to Queensland in the summer of 2012/13, and where in 2011 he made his Test debut in England’s most recent Test win on Australian soil, there is the Sri Lanka tour, the World Test Championship final and a West Indies tour to navigate.

After Australia’s showdown with South Africa at Lords in June, George Bailey and his fellow selectors may be keen to start regenerating the Test side gradually.

Nineteen-year-old Sam Konstas was the only player under the age of 30 in the Australian XI at the SCG against India, and with a new WTC cycle beginning, the selectors could not be blamed for looking to the future.

They will be especially eager to avoid a situation where a cluster of champions depart at the same time, and instead try to devise gradual replacements for various players.

Khawaja is well aware that that tactic is a sensible one, and will hold no resentment if his finish line is decided for him.

“Over the next three to four years, there’s going to be a lot of transition going on,” Khawaja said.

“I’m quite attuned to that and I still want to play and I want to keep playing for as long as I can.

“But I also know there might be a right time to slip out. If I’m still playing and the selectors are like, ‘We feel like the time’s come’, it’s, ‘You let me know and I can slide out’.”

Returning to Sri Lanka for a fourth Test tour is quite symbolic for Khawaja as trips to the island nation have coincided with the highs and lows of 78-Test career.

On his first Test tour in 2011, he was dropped for the final Test of the series, which Australia won 1-0, to make way for Ricky Ponting’s return after flying home for the birth of his daughter.

Khawaja was leapfrogged in the pecking order by Shaun Marsh, who scored a century on debutant stepping into Ponting’s place at number three.

Then in 2016, Khawaja was once again discarded after two Tests with he and Joe Burns being dumped for Marsh and Moises Henriques for the finale of a series Australia were whitewashed in.

But in 2022, Khawaja returned at the peak of his powers.

He scored 71, 0 not out, 37 and 29 in the two-Test series that was drawn one-all, after topping the run charts on the tour of Pakistan three months earlier.

Khawaja accumulated 496 runs at 165.33 and seemingly spent days at the crease in the country of his birth as Australia won a gruelling series 1-0.

He then backed it up in India in 2023, again leading all comers with 333 runs at 47.57.

His game has clearly grown with maturity in foreign conditions, but Khawaja knows the peaks and troughs are part and parcel of a long career.

“(Playing on the subcontinent) has been a love-hate relationship,” he said.

“(But) there’s going to be times when you score runs, times you don’t score runs. You respect that the older you get.

“Cricket always ebbs and flows. I’m very attuned to that now.”